As the decorations go up around the house, I've been trying to practice a little advice from the great Coco Chanel; always take off the last thing you put on (in terms of accessorizing). It's works for home too. I am kind of a cottage cluttered spirit at times and would rather be a cottage cozy spirit.
In that vein, I kept the door wreath super simple this year. I wired several vintage ornament picks together and attached them to the wreath along with a simple tulle bow. 
The bottom half of the tree is buck nekkid not for want of ornaments but because a little scamp of a kitten named Bailee who thinks it's her personal jungle gym. She is also enamored of rearranging the tree skirt. I fully expect to find her stuck up in the branches well before Christmas arrives!
As for that tree, this is our first year for a fake tree. Our family tradition was to go out to the same tree farm each year and cut a Frasier Fir. Several forces came together to get us to the decision to try a fake tree: complaints from the kids about it being too wet, too cold, too something whenever we went therefore become joy suckers (people sucking all the joy out of your fun?), no one agreeing on the perfect tree and feeling bad about cutting down a living thing so we could enjoy it for a few weeks each December.
Soooo, we extract this new tree out of it's numerous wrappings, we go through the initial steps to put it together and I promptly burst into tears. It made the Charlie Brown Christmas tree look like the Rockefeller Center tree. Turns out we had to arrange the dang thing. Over 1000 tips to be adjusted, arranged and cajoled into place. This called for a drink, maybe 3. After a couple of hours of primping the thing up, I'm proud to say it's now almost to the status of a Charlie Brown tree. I'm not crazy about it, but I'm giving it a whirl. I'm hoping that it I throw enough ornaments at it, it'll grow on me.
One little bit of fun on my girly-girl back porch Christmas extravaganza; a tiny reindeer who can skip about a tree without tearing it apart ala Bailee! 
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7 comments:
Love your little reindeer!
Nothing like a cat or kid to screw up those Christmas decorations! I can still hear my Mom's voice, "I can never have ANYTHING nice with you kids around!" We're having to alter the way we do all of our decorating this year b/c of my little Mallory.
Oh...Joy to the World!
Beautiful!
Happy Holidays!
Sandra Evertson
Send me that kitty - you know I wanted to just take him (her) when I was there! And keep fluffing the tree - you CAN make them look really good, you just need more fluffing experience! LOVE your door wreath. And this comment is from Kim - have to have a Google account . . . . .
Oh Casii, I love your wreath so beautiful. And that little reindeer, super cute! You'll get the hang of fluffing, it's the roughest part of a fake tree - BUT think of this, no needles stuck in your foot, no having to crawl under there and water...and in the land of Oregon, a fake tree is almost sacrilege, but hey, I've survived! lol
Casii -
Adorable! Is the reindeer on the pink box another kit like the one you made with the house? They are just too cute. As for the fake tree, hang in there. That's the only kind my family has ever had, so I know they take work but can be wonderful and festive just like "real" ones.
Oh but that's part of our tradition! We usually wind up getting a tree on the coldest rainest most horrible day. We're all freezing and saying "hurry up" and basically just grab one to be done with it! Get it home and we always say it's the "best" tree. Of course this year it's been in hot and in the 70s. Which is why I think this year's tree isn't so great LOL!
Manuela
I did the same thing this year. It wasn't easy to hold back, but I am happy with the results!
Thanks for the nice comment about my move to DC, I do think I'll like it there, and appreciate any info about the area!
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